Copyright and Mass Digitization

Maurizio Borghi and Stavroula Karapapa

The first work to propose new solutions for how to regulate the use of works through developing a regulatory framework for the lawful use of works in the mass digital age

Assesses comprehensively and systematically the collision of traditional copyright principles with the emergence of new technologies

Considers the important question of whether copyright law needs to be redefined

Considers the legitimacy of activities underlying mass digitization in the context of projects such as Google Books, the Internet Archive, and Europeana, looking at both European and US law

Copyright and Mass Digitization

Maurizio Borghi and Stavroula Karapapa

Description

In an age where works are increasingly being used, not only as works in the traditional sense, but also as carriers of data from which information may be automatically extracted for various purposes, Borghi and Karapapa consider whether mass digitisation is consistent with existing copyright principles, and ultimately whether copyright protection needs to be redefined, and if so how?

The work considers the activities involved in the process of mass digitization identifying impediments to the increasing number of such projects such as the inapplicability of copyright exceptions, difficulties in rights clearance, and the issue of 'orphan' and out-of-print works.

It goes on to examine the concept of 'use' of works in light of mass digital
technologies and how it impinges on copyright law and principles; for example considering whether scanning and using optical character recognition in mass digital projects qualify as transformative use, or whether text mining on digitial repositories should be a permitted activity. These issues are considered in the context of both European and US law. Consideration is also given to mass digitization in the wider context of 'law and technology', comparing mass digitization issues with those of genetic databases, online privacy and data protection.

Illustrating how mass digitization unveils a number of unsettled theoretical issues within copyright, the book proposes a new regulatory framework for the use of works in the context of emerging technologies, providing a new
rights-based approach to dealing with copyright.

Copyright and Mass Digitization

Maurizio Borghi and Stavroula Karapapa

Author Information

Maurizio Borghi is senior lecturer in intellectual property law at Brunel University Law School and director of the Centre for Intellectual Property, internet and Media. Prior to joining Brunel in 2007, he has been a researcher in cultural legal studies and philosophy at Bocconi University of Milan, and a visiting scholar at the Center for the Study of Law and Society at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the executive committee of ISHTIP, the International Society for the History and Theory of Intellectual Property.

Stavroula Karapapa is senior lecturer in law at the School of Law, University of Reading and an advocate at the Athens Bar, specializing in Intellectual Property and Internet law. Her research interests focus on the
intersection of law and technology with particular emphasis on copyright.

Copyright and Mass Digitization

Maurizio Borghi and Stavroula Karapapa

From Our Blog

By Maurizio Borghi and Stavroula Karapapa
After almost a decade of litigation, on 14 November the Southern District Court of New York has ruled on the class action Authors Guild v Google. Judge Chin, who had rejected in March 2011 the agreement proposing to settle the case, found that the activities carried out in the context of the Google Books project do not infringe copyright.